Jazz McGinnis

Jazz McGinnis

Jazz McGinnis is a current Masters of Social Work candidate at the University of Michigan interning with the HIV/AIDS Treatment Program at Michigan Medicine; he is also a current Rand Skolnick Point Scholar.

His passion for high-quality transgender medical services has led him to pursue advocacy towards the full incorporation of transgender medicine into primary care services at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and provide better access to care for trans people who are low-income and/or experiencing homelessness. Jazz has spoken at conferences, on panels, and led trainings to empower medical and behavioral health professionals with the knowledge necessary to offer competent care to their trans and gender non-binary patients. He was involved in the expansion and implementation of the transgender health benefit policy under Oregon’s Medicaid program.

In early 2017, Jazz coordinated a legal name and gender change clinic that disseminated information to trans and gender non-binary participants pursuing legal identity documentation corrections in Washtenaw County, Michigan. After graduation, he hopes to continue his work integrating transgender health services into primary care settings.

Presentation Description:Transgender and gender non-binary (TGNB) individuals have long faced difficulty obtaining health services due to perceived or lived experiences of discrimination with individual healthcare providers, insurance companies, and the healthcare system as a whole. The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey Report from the National Center for Transgender Equality describes how 33% of transgender individuals identified at least one negative experience with a healthcare provider within the last year and 23% avoided needed care due to fear of discrimination. These numbers illustrate that TGNB people are not only are unable to access medically necessary transition related care, but also do not engage in vital preventative or primary care services that promote their overall well-being. This is especially alarming when one considers that 1.4% of transgender individuals report living with HIV/AIDS, a rate that is over 20% of the non-TGNB population. The majority of these individuals are transgender women of color: 19% of Black trans women, 4.6% Native American trans women, and 4.4% of Latina trans women are living with HIV/AIDS.

An aspect of care that can be addressed by clinical providers is the high barriers to care that TGNB individuals face when seeking medical and behavioral health services, such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT), counseling and letters for HRT and/or gender affirming surgery, and, often simply locating appropriate healthcare services. This workshop seeks to challenge participants to think critically about their role in perpetuating barriers to care in their own role as clinical practitioners and to explore avenues to reduce obstacles to providing affirming, competent, accessible, and affordable care to their TGNB clients. Participants will be able to leave this workshop with an understanding of interventions that have promoted better health for TGNB individuals and strategies that empower them to implement these interventions within their own clinical settings.